Reitman Ghostbusted?

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Series director may be sequel's albatross.

By Scott Collura

The long and winding road to Ghostbusters 3 has gotten a little longer and winding-er this week with a report surfacing about a face-off between series director Ivan Reitman and studio Columbia Pictures.

According to New York Magazine's Vulture, the division lies in Columbia's desire to have a hot young director take over the third film in the series. But Reitman has a decades-old deal in place that gives him creative control over the films, including director approval. As the site puts it, "While it's true that Reitman can't force Columbia to make Ghostbusters 3 with him, he can make it nearly impossible for the studio to make the film without him."

Ivan Reitman loves his 30-year-old Ghostbusters contract.

An inside source says that Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis all also have deals which dictate that if any of them aren't happy with any part of a new Ghostbusters, they can "singlehandedly veto" the project, effectively killing it. (Obviously, this deal must've been made afterGhostbusters 2 was produced; otherwise how else can that film's sorry existence be explained?!)

The second draft of the new film's script (by The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky) is in progress right now and due in May. Columbia apparently was hoping that if Reitman became busy with another project -- like his just green-lit Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman comedy Friends with Benefits (previously known as Fuckbuddies -- he'd let someone else take over on Ghostbusters. That doesn't look to be happening, however.

"Insiders familiar with Reitman's plans say he thinks the two comedies are not mutually exclusive, and still plans to direct both, raising serious questions about whether Sony will want to proceed with Ghostbusters 3 at all," says the site. "However, losing Ghostbusters would make a tough 2011 even tougher, as the studio has no other franchise blockbuster scheduled."